Member of the Perkins faculty since 2002
wblawren@smu.edu
214.768.2534

Education
Ph.D., Drew University, 1984; M.Div., Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1971; B.A., Duke University, 1968

Teaching Specialties
Historical theology, American church history, homiletics

Research Interests
United Methodism and American culture, United Methodist history and doctrine

Selected Publications
Co-editor, Connectionalism: Ecclesiology, Mission and Identity (Abingdon, 1997); co-editor, The People(s) Called Methodist: Forms and Reforms of Their Life (Abingdon, 1998); co-editor, Doctrines and Discipline (Abingdon, 1999); co-editor, Questions for the Twenty-First Century Church (Abingdon, 1999); Sundays in New York: Pulpit Theology at the Crest of the Protestant Mainstream, 1930-1955 (Scarecrow Press, 1996); "The History of Preaching in America," Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (1988); "The Theology of the Ordained Ministry in The United Methodist Church," Quarterly Review (Spring 1998).

Professional Distinctions
Ordained elder, United Methodist Church, North Texas Annual Conference; member, Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and Conference Committee on the Episcopacy; former senior minister, Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, Washington, D.C.; board member, General Commission on Religion and Race, United Methodist Church, 1992-1996.